Tidbits

I watched an interesting show on the history of Christmas last night on the History Channel. Learned quite a few things. Did you know that there were winter solstice celebrations around this time of year—long before Christianity came along? Many people worshipped pagan gods such as Mithra and Odin. Some of these celebrations or festivals were brimming with drunkenness and debauchery. Way back when, people used to drag evergreens into their homes as a way to battle the bleak wintertime and celebrate life. Then Christianity grew and the holiday sort of evolved into a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Didn't stop some of the partiers, though. The Puritans even cancelled Christmas for a while. You can read more about it right here. All in all, Christmas has had a sort of strange and varied past. Here's an interesting excerpt:

In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival.

On a completely unrelated note, the city council in Austin is considering a law against feeding deer. Austin would become the largest city in the state with such a law. But getting rid of deer in urban or suburban areas isn't as easy as stopping the feeding. According to a state biologist, the deer would remain where they are, though they'd be less likely to congregate. The only real solution is to trap them or "harvest" them. Harvest means kills, of course. Meanwhile, the same homeowners who gripe about the deer freak out if they see a coyote. The danger posed to humans by coyotes is so tiny as to be almost nonexistent, but people want them exterminated. Gee, what happens when you get rid of all the predators? Animals like deer tend to thrive. 

One of my game warden buddies called me this morning, just touching base. He mentioned that he'd done a recent investigation into an incident where some Mexican drug runners in a boat exchanged gunfire with Border Patrol agents in another boat on Lake Amistad. The sad thing is, that sort of thing doesn't even make the news anymore. Likewise with another incident where a Texas warden got dragged about a hundred yards by a fleeing suspect. 

The heads continue to roll in the publishing industry. There have been recent layoffs at Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Thomas Nelson, and quite a few others. As I've mentioned before, this is not a good time to pitch a book—but that's what my agent is doing for me right now. Hey, the editors have to acquire something, right? Cross your fingers for me.